3 files changed, 56 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller.rb b/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller.rb
index 909b438a41..52f16b7bec 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ module AbstractController
   autoload :DoubleRenderError, "abstract_controller/rendering.rb"
   autoload :Helpers
   autoload :Logger
+  autoload :Rendering
   autoload :Translation
   autoload :AssetPaths
   autoload :UrlFor
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/rendering.rb b/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/rendering.rb
index 8997207550..6e5b172203 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/rendering.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/rendering.rb
@@ -6,4 +6,54 @@ module AbstractController
       super(message || DEFAULT_MESSAGE)
     end
   end
+
+  module Rendering
+    # Raw rendering of a template to a string.
+    #
+    # It is similar to render, except that it does not
+    # set the response_body and it should be guaranteed
+    # to always return a string.
+    #
+    # If a component extends the semantics of response_body
+    # (as Action Controller extends it to be anything that
+    # responds to the method each), this method needs to be
+    # overridden in order to still return a string.
+    # :api: plugin
+    def render_to_string(*args, &block)
+    end
+
+    # Raw rendering of a template.
+    # :api: plugin
+    def render_to_body(options = {})
+    end
+
+    def render(*args, &block)
+    end
+
+    # This method should return a hash with assigns.
+    # You can overwrite this configuration per controller.
+    # :api: public
+    def view_assigns
+      {}
+    end
+
+    # Normalize args by converting render "foo" to render :action => "foo" and
+    # render "foo/bar" to render :file => "foo/bar".
+    # :api: plugin
+    def _normalize_args(action=nil, options={})
+      options
+    end
+
+    # Normalize options.
+    # :api: plugin
+    def _normalize_options(options)
+      options
+    end
+
+    # Process extra options.
+    # :api: plugin
+    def _process_options(options)
+      options
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
index ebb7cc2a64..82a7366f6b 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
@@ -161,7 +161,11 @@ module ActionController
   #     render action: "overthere" # won't be called if monkeys is nil
   #   end
   #
-  class Base < Metal
+  metal = Class.new(Metal) do
+    include AbstractController::Rendering
+  end
+
+  class Base < metal
     abstract!
 
     # We document the request and response methods here because albeit they are